After reviewing the contemporary deal landscape and deal volumes, this Executive Summary of the full 2018 Mercer Research Report emphasizes that the common denominator that drives deal value remains PEOPLE.

Disruptive technologies and concepts like Cloud, Software Defined Everything, Open Source, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Blockchain and Augmented/Virtual Reality are becoming mainstream, creating new business models across many industries; older, more established players must reinvent themselves or be displaced into oblivion.

An integration program can have a major impact on whether or not a transaction is accretive or dilutive to earnings per share. This session from the Chicago M&A Conference, featuring leaders from Oath (a Verizon company), Microsoft, and BNY Mellon, considered approaches for setting and achieving synergy targets and looked at new and unconventional strategies for a thoughtful integration process that impacts both revenue and productivity.

There is a well-worn military expression: “no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.” Knowing this, a famous Prussian military commander had his forces participate in Wargaming, which is simulating operational and counter-moves on the field of battle in order to surface both unanticipated strengths and weaknesses, but above all, to subject existing assumptions to the uncertainties of fast-evolving, complex situations.

In a growing number of cases, large companies are turning to M&A to grow their digital capabilities. Virtually all large companies—96%—believe such investments are a central part of their corporate strategy.